Rauf Khalid

Abdul Rauf Khalid (Urdu: عبدالرؤف خالد‎; born 19 December 1957, Peshawar – died 24 November 2011) was a Pakistani actor, filmmaker and television writer/director. An ex-serviceman and bureaucrat, he worked in films and television plays after attending Islamia College, Peshawar.

Career

1989: he wrote and partially directed PTV's thriller, Madaar, a seven-episode serial exposing drug trafficking, telecast from Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV).

1991: he wrote Guest House, a 52-episode comedy series that turned out to be a popular comedy series for PTV.

1994: Khalid directed Angar Wadi, a 15-episode serial for which he was an actor and a producer apart from writing it.

1998: Khalid made Laag, a 27-episodes serial (written, directed, produced and acted).

2003: Khalid released his debut film Laaj as (writer, director, producer and actor), although it reportedly did poorly at the box office. Laaj won 12 Bolan Awards, 14 Graduate Awards, 4 National Film Awards and the Luxstyle Award.

2007: Khalid established a college of TV & Film Direction in Lok Virsa Shakrparian Islamabad. He was the chairman of National Institute of Cultural Studies.

2008: Khalid made his third television serial (Mishaal), for which he served as writer, director and producer.

Art

His paintings have been exhibited in the World Fineart Gallery New York and the Omma Art Gallery in Crete Greece.

Death

Rauf Khalid died on 24 November 2011, aged 53, in a traffic accident near Sheikhupura as he was coming to Islamabad from Lahore via motorway.

Awards

• The President of Pakistan award (Pride of Performance)
• The Prime Minister of Pakistan award (The Kashmir Medal)
• Bolan Award (Best Director, Best Film, Best Writer, Best Supporting Actor)
• Graduate Guild Award (Best Director, Best Writer, Best Producer, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Script) 
• National Pakistan Award (Best Director, Best Film, Best Writer, Best Original Soundtrack shared with Zille Huma)
• Lux Style Award (Best Film 2005)

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Liaquat Soldier

Liaquat Ali (Urdu: لیاقت سولجر‎ ‎; 1952 – 30 March 2011), better known by his stage name Liaquat Soldier, was a Pakistani stage and television comedy actor, writer, and director. Born in 1952, Soldier started his acting career in 1973. He featured in over 250 plays and co-starred with many famous theatre personalities, including the likes of Moin Akhtar, Furqan Haider, Umer Sharif, Hanif Raja and Shahzad Raza. He came from a modest, low-income family of Marwari background in Karachi. Soldier’s unusual last name was given to him by his friend Nazar Hussain, a stage artist. Channels for which Soldier worked included Geo TV, SAMAA TV, Dhoom TV, Metro, Hum TV and ARY Digital. Overseas, he worked in the United States, Dubai and South Africa.

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Hajra Masroor

Hajra Masroor (Urdu: ہاجرہ مسرور‎; Hājrah Masrūr born 17 January 1930, died 15 September 2012) was a Pakistani feminist writer. She has written several books of short stories in which she has raised the social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men. She has also received several awards including Pride of Performance Award for best writer in 1995 and Aalmi Frogh-e-Urdu Adab Award.

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Ibn-e-Insha

Ibn-e-Insha (Punjabi, Urdu: ابن انشاء‎ born Sher Muhammad Khan شیر محمد خان) on 15 June 1927 died 11 January 1978, was a Pakistani Leftist Urdu poet, humorist, travelogue writer and columnist. Along with his poetry, he was regarded one of the best humorists of Urdu. His poetry has a distinctive diction laced with language reminiscent of Amir Khusro in its use of words and construction that is usually heard in the more earthy dialects of the Hindi-Urdu complex of languages, and his forms and poetic style is an influence on generations of young poets.

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Posted in: Poet,Writer

Qudrat Ullah Shahab

Qudrat Ullah Shahab (or Qudratullah Shahab; 26 February 1917 – 24 July 1986) (Urdu: قدرت الله شهاب) was an eminent Urdu writer and civil servant from Pakistan. He is best known for his autobiography, Shahab Nama.

Early life

He was born in Gilgit in 1917. His father was a student at MAO College and a protegé under the supervision of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. He later immigrated from Aligarh and settled down in Gilgit. Shahab started writing in his early days both in Urdu and English languages. At the age of 16, he won an international essay competition organized by the Readers Digest, London. He graduated from Prince of Wales College, Jammu, and later from Government College Lahore.

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Saadat Hassan Manto

Saadat Hassan Manto (Urdu: ‏‏سعادت حسن منٹو‎; 11 May 1912 – 18 January 1955) was a British Indian-born Pakistani short story writer of the Urdu language. He is best known for his short stories, "Bu" (Odour), "Khol Do" (Open It), "Thanda Gosht" (Cold Meat), and "Toba Tek Singh".

Manto was also a film and radio scriptwriter and a journalist. He published twenty-two collections of short stories, one novel, five collections of radio plays, three collections of essays, and two collections of personal sketches.

Manto was tried for obscenity six times; thrice before 1947 in British India, and thrice after independence in 1947 in Pakistan, but never convicted. Some of his works have been translated in other languages.

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Muzaffar Warsi

Muzaffar Warsi (Urdu: مظفروارثی‎) (born 20 December 1933 in Meerath, India died 28 January 2011) was a prominent Urdu poet, critic, essayist, a lyricist par excellence, and scholar of Pakistan. He was one whose work never fails to surprise. A humble man with humble beginnings who is unafraid of experimenting. He began more than five decades ago comprises a rich repertoire of not just Naats, but also authoring several anthologies of Ghazals, Nazms & hycoes including his autobiography Gaye dinon ka suraagh which is considered to be a classic. He was writing quatrains every day for Pakistan's Renowned daily newspaper Nawa-i-Waqt.

Early life

Muzaffar Warsi was born as Muhammad Muzaffar ud Din siddiqui into the family of Alhaaj Muhammad Sharf ud Din Ahmad known as Sufi Warsi (Urdu: صوفی وارثی‎). It was a family of landlords of Meerath. Sufi Warsi was a scholar of Islam, a doctor and poet. He received two titles: Faseeh ul Hind & Sharaf u shu'ara. He was

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Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi

Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi (Urdu: احمد ندیم قاسمی‎) born Ahmad Shah Awan on 20 November 1916 – died 10 July 2006, was an Urdu and English language Pakistani poet, journalist, literary critic, dramatist and short story author. He wrote 50 books on topics such as poetry, fiction, criticism, journalism and art, and was a major figure in contemporary Urdu literature. His poetry was distinguished by its humanism, and his Urdu afsana (novel) work is considered by some second only to Prem Chand in its depiction of rural culture. He was also editor and publisher of the literary magazine Funoon for almost half a century. He received awards such as the Pride of Performance in 1968 and Sitara-e-Imtiaz in 1980 for his literary work.

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Wasif Ali Wasif

Wasif Ali Wasif (15 January 1929 – 18 January 1993) was a teacher, writer, poet and sufi intellectual from Pakistan. He is famous for his unique literary style. Probably no contemporary Urdu writer is more cited in quotations than he is. Master of aphorism, he has almost a miraculous ability to capture a rainbow of meaning in a few dewdrops of well chosen words. Many of his APHORISMS have become proverbs in recent years. His book "Kiran Kiran Suraj" containing these aphorisms remained best seller for many many years. He used to write short essays on topics like love, life, fortune, fear, hope, expectation, promise, prayer, happiness, sorrow and so on with clear objective of highlighting the true spirit of Islam. He was regular columnist of Pakistani Urdu daily newspaper Nawa-i-Waqt. His column was named "GUFTGOO" and it started publishing in newspaper in 1984. His first column was on "Muhabbat". In his life, most of his columns were combined to form two books (Dil Darya Samundar , Qatra Qatra Qulzam" with his own selected title. Later on a third book "Harf Harf Haqeeqat" containing these essays was published after he died in 1993. He also did mystic poetry in Urdu and Punjabi languages. 

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Ashfaq Ahmed

Ashfaq Ahmed (Urdu: اشفاق احمد ‎; 26 August 1925 – 7 September 2004) was a writer, playwright, broadcaster, intellectual and spiritualist from Pakistan. Ashfaq Ahmed authored more than twenty books in Urdu. His works included novels, short stories and plays for television and radio.

He was awarded President’s Pride of Performance and Sitara-i-Imtiaz for meritorious services in the field of literature and broadcasting.

Early Life

Ahmed was born in Garhmukteshwar village, Ghaziabad, British India. He obtained his early education in his native district. Shortly before independence in 1947, he migrated toPakistan and settled in  Lahore,  Punjab. He completed his Masters in Urdu literature fromGovernment College Lahore. Bano Qudsia, his wife and companion in Urdu literary circles, was his classmate at Government College.

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Posted in: Intellectual,Writer